


breathe

by bruises



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Erica, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Comfort/Angst, Couch Cuddles, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Forehead Kisses, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, Sleepy Cuddles, Sleepy Kisses, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-31 00:03:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6447460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bruises/pseuds/bruises
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blood drips down Tracy’s hand and forms a pool at her feet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	breathe

**Author's Note:**

> this was prompted to me by [lindsaymorqan](http://lindsaymorqan.tumblr.com/) on tumblr. i hope you like it!

Blood drips down Tracy’s hand and forms a pool at her feet. She looks at Hayden and Corey, their faces both equally horrified. Josh is yelling at her; she sees his mouth moving but her ears fail to detect any noise.

Tracy looks down at her claws. She sees a body lying in a mixture of blood and water. All she can do is run. She runs and runs and runs some more. Tracy doesn’t know where she’s going, but anywhere is better than the underground pipes.

“Tracy?” A voice says.

She looks up and sees a mess of blonde curls. It takes her a few moments to register that it’s Erica.

“Who’s blood is that? Tracy, are you bleeding?” Erica demands, eyeing her girlfriend’s claws.

“I killed him,” Tracy whispers.

She feels Erica’s hands guiding her into the house. They walk into the bathroom together and Erica turns on the tap.

“Can you put away the claws, please? I don’t think I can handle being paralyzed again,” Erica asks, her voice soft. She thinks back to her last kanima encounter with Jackson; the memories aren’t pleasant.

Without saying a word, Tracy retracts her claws. Erica gently submerges Tracy’s hands into a sink filled with warm soapy water. 

They don’t talk as Erica washes the blood from Tracy’s skin. Her knuckles sting, but she doesn't move an inch as Erica washes. It takes almost ten minutes.

“He was going to kill them - all of us,” Tracy says, her voice trembling.

“Who?” Erica asks. She dries their hands with a towel and looks up at her.

Tracy gulps. “Theo.”

Erica doesn’t know what to say. She gingerly looks at Tracy and takes a step away from her. 

She catches her though. Tracy wraps a hand around Erica’s throat and pushes her against the nearest wall.

“Am I dreaming? Is this another night terror?” She asks, her grip tightening.

This has happened before. Erica panics. She tries frantically to think back to what she did the last time, but she can barely breathe.

“Tracy,” Erica begins, trying her best to breathe in and out. “Tracy, this isn’t a dream. I’m - I’m here, Tracy, and I love you. Remember?”

A few seconds pass and Erica doesn’t know if Tracy is going to snap out of her trance. In a final attempt, Erica draws her claws and pushes them into Tracy’s arms where she knows they’ll heal.

“I’m so sorry,” Tracy whispers, backing away from Erica.

Erica shakes her head and follows Tracy. Her hand shakes, but Erica reaches out and places it on Tracy’s shoulder.

“Come on, I’ll make you some tea and you can tell me what happened. You usually feel better once you talk about it,” Erica suggests. Her heart is racing a hundred miles an hour but she can’t stop thinking about her girlfriend.

The kettle boils as they sit in silence. Erica gets up, makes two cups of tea, and returns to the lounge room to find Tracy sprawled out on the couch. 

A small smile spreads across Erica’s face for the first time all night. As soon as she puts the mug down on the coffee table, Tracy picks up the scalding ceramic and holds it between her hands. She seems unharmed by the heat, so Erica doesn’t ask any questions.

Tracy sighs and looks up at the ceiling. “Theo had been talking about killing the pack for weeks. He thought that if he killed one of us, he would absorb our powers or something like that? It doesn’t sound ridiculous. If he was a kanima, a werewolf, _and_ he could control electricity, I can hardly imagine the damage he could do.”

Erica sits on the carpet with her back pressed against the couch. She doesn’t know what to say, so she looks up at her girlfriend and nods.

“I couldn’t let them die again; we’d already died once. Gosh, Erica, I can’t imagine dying a second time. I couldn’t let him do it, Er,” Tracy tells her.

From her spot beside Tracy, Erica sees tears fill the corner of her eyes. She sits up and gently wipes them away with the corner of her sleeve.

“You did the right thing, Tracy. Imagine how much worse things could have been,” Erica says.

Tracy looks at her and sniffles. “He trusted me. Theo trusted me and I betrayed him.”

“He was going to kill your pack. You did what you had to do.”

Erica watches Tracy carefully. She listens to her heartbeat, but it continues at the same pace.

“What do I do now?” Tracy asks, looking to Erica.

She blinks. “Um...you could talk to them? To Hayden, Corey, and Josh. When you’re ready.”

“Josh is never going to forgive me,” Tracy sighs. She sits up and wraps her arms around her knees. “He loved Theo more than the rest of us.”

Erica sits beside her girlfriend and wraps an arm around her. “Everything will work out; he’ll come around.”

Her lips tremble; she can't handle the rejection from her own pack. Tracy pushes those thoughts aside for now, and nods. She rests her head on Erica’s shoulder and exhales. “I’m sorry, Er.”

“For what?” Erica asks, pressing a kiss to her head.

“Everything,” Tracy murmurs. “I wish we could do things that normal people do. I want to go on coffee dates, study in the library, and go to the movies, Erica.”

Erica feels her heart break into pieces. Tracy's right; they barely have time for themselves. “Hey, we can do that, Tracy.”

“Really? Even between the chimera and werewolf business?”

“Mhmm,” Erica says, pressing another kiss to Tracy’s forehead. “Even between the the chimera and werewolf business.”

Tracy exhales and takes a sip from her mug. “I love you, Erica.”

“I love you too, Tracy. I’ll do whatever I can to make you feel safe,” Erica says. 

They sit cuddles together on the couch for a while. Erica gently rubs Tracy's back, and within minutes she's fast asleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> let me know what you think!! // [my tumblr](http://ohfemslash.tumblr.com/)


End file.
